a draft report into claims that the home
secretary priti patel had bullied staff
concluded this summer that she had
broken rules on ministerial behaviour
the cabinet office began an inquiry into
her conduct
after the most senior official at the
home office sir philip rutnam
resigned in february he alleged that
staff felt she created fear in the
department
and he is suing the home office for
unfair dismissal
tonight labour is demanding that the
report be made public
a decision on pretty patel's future will
be made public tomorrow our political
editor laura koonsberg
reports she's the most powerful woman in
the cabinet
long-standing brexiteer backer of boris
johnson
in charge of the police immigration one
of the most important jobs in the
government but since february
there's been a shadow hanging over
pretty patel because of this
dramatic claims made by the man who was
her most senior official
i have received allegations that her
conduct has included
shouting and swearing belittling people
making
unreasonable and repeated demands
behavior that created fear
and needed some bravery to call out
he quit but she wanted to stay so the
government launched an investigation
into what really happened and now months
on perhaps it's starting to become clear
one source told me the draft report
concluded way back in the summer
says priti patel had not met the
requirements of the ministerial code
to treat civil servants with
consideration and respect
and they said the investigation had
found some evidence of
bullying even if it was not intentional
another source said the report was
unambiguous that pretty patel had broken
the code
the rules that are meant to govern how
ministers behave
yet for her part here at the home office
pretty patel has
always firmly denied doing anything
wrong
are you a workplace bully home secretary
the reports looked at her behavior in
three different departments
and one government source told me it
doesn't always give a flattering picture
of what pretty patel encountered and the
man who until recently was by the prime
minister's side
confirmed the findings have been in
boris johnson's entry for a while
but implied that if priti patel was
found to have broken the rules
she might not have to quit the prime
minister uh wanted his
advice and the prime minister needs to
reflect and make a decision that that as
i understand it is still in stirling
the expectation here tonight is that
there might be some kind of
reprimand for ms patel but it's
certainly not likely that she'll be
sacked
and tory mps are already rallying before
the prime minister's decision
is even public i've worked with pretty
patel for a number of years
and i've always found her strong robust
but never in any way anywhere near
bullying or even threatening any of her
staff and most of her staff got on with
her incredibly well
yet convention matters there isn't a
single example of a minister who's
broken the rules
who stayed on what message does it send
if the minister says well actually
although i said
there'll be no bullying what actually
meant was well a little bit of bullying
is okay
and it's not a breach um of the
ministerial code that requires a
resignation
that's not the sort of message i think
the prime minister who's also
the minister for the civil service wants
to send to those thousands of civil
servants
pretty patel had to leave government in
dramatic circumstances before
almost exactly three years ago departing
as soon as she arrived home from a
foreign trip after it emerged she's held
unauthorized meetings with israeli
politicians
there may well not be an exit for her
this time
but there's still a political drama and
sophie let's be really clear about two
things tonight
number one pretty patel has always and
repeatedly denied that she did anything
wrong
but number two there is no precedent for
a minister who's been found to have
broken the code
the ministerial charter if you like
that's meant to govern how ministers
behave
staying on their job if they have
actually been found to have transgressed
in any way
but after many many months of all of
this it's clear that this is reaching a
crescendo
but it also seems tonight that the prime
minister is very
determined to try to stand by her
there's been a not very subtle attempt
by tory mps all over social media
tonight posting
so much about how they think she's the
right person for the job praising her to
the skies
but we will know more tomorrow when we
actually see the statements that emerge
after many many months of this being a
problem for the government
he will try to draw under a line under
it but i expect if the prime minister
still tries to hang on to her there may
well be questions about how he can do so
laura thank you